GrabTaxi (Thailand), the local operating unit of the Malaysian taxi-booking app firm, has further reduced the fare for GrabCar, the private hire vehicle booking service.
The reduction of up to 20% is a direct response to the move by its US-based arch rival Uber, which in June cut the fares for its low-cost UberX service.
"Thailand's car-riding app market is growing at a strong pace this year, thanks to the continuous growth of smartphone users and growing consumer awareness of ride-sharing app services," said Buranit Moskwa, head of GrabTaxi (Thailand).
"We expect intense competition in the booking app market to continue, with benefits going to consumers," she said.
GrabTaxi cut its minimum fare for GrabCar from 40 baht to 30 baht.
The company also reduced the fee for the first 10 kilometres from 10 baht to nine baht per kilometre.
"This will help to increase mass adoption rates," said Mrs Buranit.
GrabTaxi has a wide range of services, including smartphone-based taxi booking GrabTaxi, low cost GrabCar, premium GrabXL, online parcel delivery service GrabExpress and motorbike taxi on-demand GrabBike.
Mrs Buranit said GrabTaxi continued discussions with the Department of Land Transport to lift the ride-sharing service out of the legal grey area and ensure passenger safety.
Since its inception in Thailand two years ago, GrabTaxi has increased the number of local staff to over 100. The company has expanded its services to Phuket, Chiang Rai and Pattaya.
"Thailand is among the top countries in Southeast Asia for GrabTaxi in terms of market potential," she said.
GrabTaxi is spending US$6 million on a ride-sharing safety campaign across Southeast Asia. The campaign is also promoting the "share my ride" feature that allows users to let friends and relatives know they have taken a cab to reassure loved ones they are safe.
Mrs Buranit cited an internal survey which found that the number of female passengers using the taxi service rose 1.6 times after the taxi-booking apps became available.
Drivers also earned 50% more income after they joined the ride-sharing app service network.
To celebrate its second anniversary, GrabTaxi is offering gold rewards, including a total of 20 necklaces worth 500,000 baht, to passengers who use its services on Nov 30 and Dec 1 from 10am-8pm.
GrabTaxi's headquarters in August received additional funds worth $350 million, bringing its total funding to $700 million. GrabTaxi is the largest start-up firm in Southeast Asia.
Of the total proceeds, the company plans to use $100 million to establish a new research and development centre in Singapore over the next five years.
During May to November, GrabTaxi doubled the number of its drivers 160,000. Downloads of its taxi-booking app also doubled to 9 million across Southeast Asia.
GrabTaxi has increased the benefits and welfare of drivers by providing insurance coverage.